Review - Continental Mountain King ProTection Tires

Tubeless setup was easy with Stan’s tape and fluid and the beads snapped against the rims with no issues. The tires roll reasonably well on the street or hardpack and the knobbies on the side give a nice, predictable grip in sandy or rocky corners when you’re on the trail. I’ve been very pleased with their stability and grip. I suspect that at lower pressures, the grip would be better still. The tires have yet to “burp” on trails like City Park, Walnut Creek and the Barton Creek Greenbelt, so I can say that the tire/rim interface with this setup is excellent.

About the grip- the Black Chili rubber compound provides lots of it in dry or moist conditions, more so than any other tire I have put on this bike (Maxxis Ignitor, Hutchinson Python, and the non-ProTection Continental 2.4” Mountain King). As a bonus, the ProTection model offers good puncture and slash protection when riding over tough, technical features like “cheese grater” rocks. Did I mention the tires’BlackChili compound and the traction? These tires have good grip even when rolling over slippery roots and moist limestone.

All, in all, for Central Texas riders looking for a good, perhaps great, all-around tire for their 29”mountain bike, I heartily recommend a pair of Continental’s Mountain King ProTection tires.

Product Specifications

Product: Continental Mountain King II ProTection – 29” x 2.2”

Manufacturer’s product page: http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/themes/mtb/cc_marathon/MountainKing22/MountainKing22_en.html

Where purchased: Tree Fort Bikes, http://www.treefortbikes.com/ (for a steal of a deal at $45/tire)

MTBR review: http://reviews.mtbr.com/continental-mountain-king-ii-2-2-and-x-king-2-2-with-protection-29er-tire-review

Tested on: Stan’s Flow EX 29” wheels with tire pressures at ~30PSI front, 35PSI rear.

(Review by John Abrams)